Muzzle loading rifles have an essentially closed breech at the rear of the barrel, so that powder and bullets must be loaded at the muzzle or forward end of the barrel. A typical muzzle loading rifle has a barrel with a breech plug attached to occupy an enlarged rear bore portion of the barrel at the breech end. In some rifles, the breech plug is permanently attached. In others, the breech plug is removable to facilitate pass-through cleaning of the bore.
The breech plug has a central rear pocket for receiving a primer, which when struck provides an ignition source that flashes through a passage to the powder contained in the rear of the barrel. To facilitate reloading after a shot, an extractor automatically removes the spent primer upon opening of the rifle's action. The extractor is an L-shaped body with a long leg that reciprocates axially in a passage parallel to and below the barrel bore. A perpendicular short leg extends upward, with a lip at the edge of the primer pocket, so that the primer's rear flange is engaged by the lip. When the action is opened, the extractor slides back, and the lip extracts the primer.
This extractor configuration is convenient to expedite reloading. However, the extractor's position with the short leg behind the center of the breech plug prevents the convenient removal of the breech plug. Plug removal is needed not just for pass-through cleaning of the bore, but for removing a possible wet powder charge that does not fire. In existing rifles, removal of the plug requires that the extractor be removed. This requires removing the rifle stock from the barreled action to expose an extractor-retaining-screw, and then removing that screw to allow the extractor to be removed. This not only is inconvenient, but allows the various parts to be lost or damaged, especially when disassembly is needed in the field, where a bench and suitable tools are not available. The process is repeated in reversed for reinstalling the extractor.
Existing rifles may lack extractors, avoiding the above process, except that these require a tool (or fingernail) to be used for each shot for removing the spent primer.
The present invention overcomes the limitations of the prior art by providing a muzzle loading firearm has a barrel with a bore defining a bore axis. The barrel has a muzzle end and a breech end, with a breech plug removably attached to the barrel and having a rear surface. An extractor is connected to the barrel and has a portion positioned rearward of the plug, and movable away from a position rearward of the plug, so that the plug may be removed without removing the extractor. The extractor may pivot, and may have a cylindrical portion received in a bore parallel to the barrel bore. The rear face of the extractor may be flush with the rear face of the breech plug.